Fruits of Their Labor

Kompas/Ferganata Indra Riatmoko

Pintauli Manurung (left) and her son Esron Simbolon clear shed palm leaves at their oil palm plantation on Monday (12/3) in Nagari Pengkolan, Bosar Maligas district, Simalungun, North Sumatra.

Esron Simbolon, 50, looked down at his father’s tombstone in the oil palm plantation near their house. He recalled the hard times his parents went through when they planted oil palms around 1984. Times were tough then, and they ate whatever they could find.

However, Esron’s parents refused to give up. They worked hard on their plantation to ensure that their children could go to school and enjoy a better life. It was this that motivated Esron’s parents to leave home early in the morning to work on the plantation and return late at night.

“Our house seemed to be only for sleeping. My parents worked really hard every day. They tended to their oil palms tirelessly. Sometimes, they cooked at the plantation, as they had no time to come home,” said Esron, who was accompanied by his mother Pintauli Manurung, 72, at their oil palm plantation in Pengkolan village of Bosar Maligas district, Simalungun regency, North Sumatra. Some three years later, they were able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and their lives changed for the better.

Esron, now a Simalungun legislative councilor, said that he had only finished high school while his younger siblings went on to finish their college education. At the time, his parents could not afford his college fees.

After all of his younger siblings graduated college, Esron finally went to college and graduated a few years ago. Even after all of their children had completed their college education, Esron’s parents continued to work their plantation. They refused to simply enjoy their days leisurely at home.

“My father once said that, when he died, he wanted to be buried on the plantation. After he had passed, we fulfilled his wish. He really loved this plantation,” said Esron.

The family has truly reaped the benefits of their hard work. The plantation, which was only 2.5 hectares at first, expanded to 5 hectares within two years. The family continued to expand the plantation and today, they own a 120-hectare oil palm plantation. The latest expansion was two years ago.

They were first introduced to oil palm cultivation by their neighbor. Back then, the neighbor had planted oil palms and Esron’s parents merely watched. Before cultivating oil palms, they had grown corn and other crop vegetables. As they changed the plants to oil palms, their lives changed, too. As they worked hard to grow oil palms, the family also grew more prosperous.

“In the old days, it was hard for us to buy salted fish. However, everything changed after we harvested [the oil palms]. We couldn’t imagine that things would not change. At the time, we were grateful whenever we could eat,” said Pintauli. “We couldn’t imagine sending our children to college. After we began harvesting, [my husband] was brave enough to borrow some money to send the kids to school. We used our profits from the oil palm harvest to pay back the loan.”

Oil palm farmer Supar, 60, from Tanjung Pasir village in Tanah Jawa district, Simalungun regency, is also proud that his four children could go to college. Of his four children, three have graduated while the youngest had just enrolled in a college in Bandung, West Java.

Supar said he had worked as rice farmer for 15 years until he had saved enough money to purchase 2 hectares of land in 1995.

“At the time, my only thought was that my children should not be poor like me. They needed to go to school and be prosperous. Don’t become like me! Praise God, I could achieve my dreams. Now, I want to go on a hajj. It is all thanks to oil palm,” said Supar, whose parents hailed from Java and worked at the Simalungun water agency.

Finishing school

Tugimin, 57, farmer in Baja Dolok village, Tanah Jawa district, Simalungun regency, said he finished elementary school. He worked a rice field with his parents in his younger days. Then, he purchased 2 hectares of land and grew corn. In 1993, he switched to cultivating oil palm.

“At the time, I was introduced to oil palm by the seeding assistant from the Oil Palm Research Center. His name was Pak Elvia Lubis. He introduced me to oil palm and I trusted his words. Pak Lubis once talked about oil palm until it was one o’clock in the morning,” said Tugimin.

Tugimin said that, at first, he was confused by the new plant. However, he followed Lubis’s suggestions, including for the 1996 harvest. Lubis convinced him that people would come and buy his harvest. Lubis’s words were proven true, as he helped Tugimin find buyers.

Tugimin then reaped the benefits of his hard work. After his early success in growing oil palm, he purchased new land. From cultivating this land, he was able to save money and send his children to school. One by one, his children went to college. Tugimin said that the lives of his family and his children changed for the better.

“I told myself that my children should have better lives than me. My children should not lead hard lives. They should be better than their parents. All of this came true,” he said.

Pantauli, Supar and Tugimin are just a few among the many farmers who have experienced the ups and downs of cultivating oil palm. Now, they are reaping the benefits. Their past is filled with joy and laughter. They are proud of their plantations and their harvests. They were able to pursue better lives because of the plantations, and they would never let them go.

“Don’t you sell this land. This is all from your father and mother. I am worried that you will sell it,” Pantauli told her son before our arrival, as Esron related to us later.

Pantauli thought that people from the bank were coming to appraise the land’s value, and that people would borrow money from the bank and try to buy her land.

Esron said he simply laughed, listening to his mother. He explained again and again that we were not trying to purchase the land.